Nolan Arenado moved away from the National League Central but remains a thorn in the side of the Milwaukee Brewers.
He slugged a three-run home run to punctuate a four-run fourth inning and the Brewers were unable to recover in a 6-2 defeat to the Arizona Diamondbacks at American Family Field on Wednesday night, April 29.
Adrian Del Castillo also went deep three batters prior to Arenado, spoiling what to that point had been another solid start by pitcher Brandon Sproat.
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The 35-year-old Arenado, in his first season with the Diamondbacks, has now hit 25 of his 358 career homers against the Brewers with 14 of those coming from 2021-25 when he was manning third base in the NL Central for the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I signed him out of high school. He was coming to play for me in college,” said manager Pat Murphy, referring to his days as head coach at Arizona State. “He’s done that to us a lot. Hats off to him. He’s a great player. He’s had a great career and that continues.
“He’s still passionate about the game. Great respect for him.”
Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll hit consecutive homers off Grant Anderson in the ninth to cap the scoring.
Milwaukee’s offense, which exploded for 13 runs on Tuesday night, scratched across single runs in the first and third innings against left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez but mounted minimal resistance the rest of the way as Arizona evened the series at a game apiece.
“We didn’t hit with two outs tonight,” said Murphy. “We had opportunities. It’s been our story so far in the first month of the season that we haven’t been consistent.”
A quick lead for Milwaukee
It ended up being the first two left-handed hitters in the Brewers’ lineup, Brice Turang and Jake Bauers, that teamed up for the game’s first run. With one out, Turang lined a shot into the gap in left-center off left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez and then with two outs Bauers followed suit.
Sproat, meanwhile, was untouchable early as he struck out the first four batters he faced with a four-seam fastball topping out at 99.9 mph.
Turang was in the mix in the third inning as well. After Brandon Lockridge reached on a leadoff bunt single, Turang lined another double – this one over the head of Alek Thomas in center – to increase Milwaukee’s lead to 2-0.
But just as quickly, the offense fizzled out as Rodríguez settled in and then four relievers combined to toss 4 ⅓ scoreless behind him.
A Luis Rengifo leadoff double in the fourth inning was followed by a pair of two-out walks, only for Turang to ground out and end the threat.
There wasn’t much else to speak of with regard to the Brewers’ bats after that.
“The most discouraging inning was when we led off with the man on second and then we had some pretty empty at-bats after that,” Murphy said. “That was hurtful. When we first got behind, we didn’t respond. That wasn’t our typical way of doing things.”
Arizona flips the script
And indeed, after Marte made hearts skip a beat by just missing a three-run homer in the third inning, Del Castillo drove a one-out sinker over the wall in left-center to get the Diamondbacks on the board in the fourth.
Ildemaro Vargas and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then followed with singles, and Arenado homered to left-center to leave the Brewers trailing for the first time on the night, 4-2.
“Just repeating the same sinker,” Sproat said of the pitch previous, which was slightly in and up from the one Arenado hit out. “We went back and pulled it up (on video) to see where it was, and it was relatively close to the first one.
“He clipped it. Obviously, it sucks. Comes at a bad time. But what can you do?”
After Rengifo’s double in the bottom of the frame went for naught, the Brewers botched a shot at a double play that would have erased a leadoff walk in the fifth and Sproat was pulled.
“He ticked down a little bit,” said Murphy. “They were ready. They were on it.”
DL Hall finished the fifth and Sproat (0-2) allowed six hits, four runs (earned) and two walks with five strikeouts over 82 pitches.
Brian Fitzpatrick makes his major-league debut
Hall was rolling when he quickly put two on with two outs in the seventh inning to bring the dangerous Carroll to the plate.
Murphy, playing the matchups, made the call for left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick, who was selected from Class AAA Nashville earlier in the day and making his major-league debut with Angel Zerpa having been placed on the injured list.
Carroll, who’d struck out in his first three at-bats, reached on a roller down the first-base line to load the bases but on Fitzpatrick’s next pitch Del Castillo flew out to right to keep it a scoreless inning.
Fitzpatrick allowed a pair of baserunners in the eighth, including a walk of Arenado, but emerged unscathed to make his initial foray for the Brewers a successful one.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled for the kid to come in and face the hitters that he faced, some of the best hitters in the league,” said Murphy. “To come in and face those guys and do the job that he did, give up two scratch hits and get four outs for us, that’s a real positive there.”
Fitzpatrick became the fourth player to make their major-league debut with the Brewers already this season, joining catcher Jeferson Quero, left-hander Shane Drohan and right-hander Coleman Crow.
“I was ready to go from Pitch 1,” Fitzpatrick said when asked if he was surprised by being called upon in crucial situation so quickly. “And whenever your name’s called, you’re ready to go. It actually felt like the most normal part of the day, to be honest with you.”
What time is the Brewers game tonight?
Time: 6:40 p.m.
What channel is the Brewers game on tonight?
TV channel: Brewers.TV.
Brewers 2026 record
15-14.
Brewers lineup
Diamondbacks lineup
Brewers schedule
Brewers vs. Diamondbacks, April 30 12:40 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Brandon Woodruff (2-1, 3.77) vs. Arizona RHP Mike Soroka (4-0, 2.60). TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Nationals, May 1 5:45 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Jacob Misiorowski (1-2, 3.31) vs. Washington TBA. TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Nationals, May 2 3:05 p.m.: Milwaukee LHP Kyle Harrison (2-1, 2.28) vs. Washington TBA. TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
Brewers at Nationals, May 3 12:35 p.m.: Milwaukee RHP Chad Patrick (2-1, 2.57) vs. Washington TBA. TV – Brewers.TV. Radio – AM-620 WTMJ.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Diamondbacks 6, Brewers 2: Arizona’s four homers are the difference
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
